Joe Philbin’s team is better today than it was merely six weeks ago when the season began. This team is making fewer mistakes. This team is making more plays. This team is closing games.The Dolphins, in short, are pointed in the right direction.“No question we’re better,” guard Richie Incognito said. “Each and every week we’ve taken small strides and small victories to improve. The opening week we had all the turnovers and now we’re not turning the ball over. That’s critical to our success. I think game by game, week by week, we’ve gotten better and better and we’re starting to find some traction.”They’re not just finding traction, they’re finding confidence.

...

The youngster had his most efficient game. He completed a season-best 72 percent of his passes. He finished with a season-high 112 quarterback rating.He didn’t make spectacular plays, but he was outstanding when the Dolphins needed it. How else to describe that touchdown drive to open the third quarter, which gave the Dolphins their winning points?Tannehill completed seven of eight passes that series.

...

So where can all this lead? How good can a team that is steadily improving be?“The ceiling? It’s a long way from here, I’ll tell you that much,” Karlos Dansby said. “We’re nowhere near there right now. We got a lot of growing to do. That’s from the head down. But everyday we strive to get better and that’s why you play the game — to get better. “It’s definitely gotten better. But we’re still a long way from being perfect.”

We had 14 turnovers in the first five weeks. We had zero today. On a day where the Rams outplayed us, we managed to win the turnover battle and ultimately the game. Had we not won the turnover battle, I don't think we would have won this game. Tannehill was deadly accurate even though penalties and drops killed a few drives. Our runningbacks held onto the ball despite getting blown up on several plays. Special teams did a good job of keeping the field position battle in our favor. All in all it was an ugly win, but a good one nonetheless. The Rams aren't the pushover they were last year. But neither are we.

Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:12 pm

Makchell

Phinfever Lead Moderator

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 1:04 pmPosts: 7927

Re: Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction

Had we not won the turnover battle, I don't think we would have won this game.

If the kicker makes 1 out of the 3 he missed we might not have won the game.

Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:12 am

wkloiber13

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:59 pmPosts: 5117

Re: Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction

Makchell wrote:

Had we not won the turnover battle, I don't think we would have won this game.

If the kicker makes 1 out of the 3 he missed we might not have won the game.

If any one of the three reviews had gone our way this game could have gone lopsided in our favor. Woulda Coulda Shoulda. It's the reason we're 3-3 instead of 4-2 or 5-1. We were the more efficient team that day. We took advantage of our opportunities, Tannehill played a very efficient game. The Rams didn't.

Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:55 pm

MdDolfan

Phinfever Hall of Famer

Joined: Tue Jan 12, 2010 5:17 pmPosts: 781

Re: Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction

The two non fumble calls were horrific!!!! Especially the Bradford "tuck" fumble!

Mon Oct 15, 2012 4:31 pm

wkloiber13

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:59 pmPosts: 5117

Re: Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction

MdDolfan wrote:

The two non fumble calls were horrific!!!! Especially the Bradford "tuck" fumble!

The tuck rule is the tuck rule, I cannot argue with that one too much. It's a stupid rule, however, it's a rule. But the one where the receiver clearly had possession, tucked the ball, and then turned up field and fumbled was terrible. Naanee did the same thing for us and it was ruled a fumble a couple of weeks ago. In addition, Bradford lost control of that football as he was trying to cross the goal line, the ball clearly came loose from his grasp before it crossed the line, then a Dolphins player grabbed it while Bradford was struggling to get possession of it with his fingertips. I hate to use refs as an excuse, but we couldn't buy a call in that game. Nothing seemed to be going our way in that regard. But we won so I really don't care about it.

Mon Oct 15, 2012 5:21 pm

degs

Phinfever Legend

Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2010 2:05 pmPosts: 2493Location: NSW, Australia

Re: Miami Dolphins are headed in the right direction

wkloiber13 wrote:

I hate to use refs as an excuse, but we couldn't buy a call in that game. Nothing seemed to be going our way in that regard.

Don't apologize. You aren't using it as an excuse for a loss.There were some horrible calls in that game.